OpenAI’s Sam Altman sits for an interview with Nicholas Thompson, CEO of The Atlantic, to discuss AI’s trustworthiness, its dangers, and its impact on young people. Altman also discusses his company’s pledge to “stop competing and start assisting” rival projects that approach AGI, and why he thinks we’re not there yet. In a thorough and wide-ranging conversation, Altman opens up about where he thinks AI will go next and the mysteries that he still can’t solve.

Recorded at OpenAI’s offices in San Francisco.

(00:00) Introduction

(02:33) Is our understanding of AI keeping pace with its growth in power?

(05:10) Is chain-of-thought the key to trusting a model?

(11:07) Open source AI, cybersecurity, and "infected" agents

(16:26) Have we hit recursive self-improvement?

(19:18) What does AI do on Sam Altman's computer?

(21:15) Why hasn't AI made an impact in business yet?

(24:04) Will AI make the wealth gap worse?

(27:01) Why do young people hate AI? 

(30:23) The challenges of AI sycophancy 

(33:36) Do you regret making AI so human-like? 

(36:53) Synthetic data and "mad cow disease" 

(39:22) The future of publishing and media 

(41:54) Do we need neurosymbolic AI? 

(43:40) Will you cooperate with Anthropic if they get to AGI first? 

(47:42) What is your advice to parents who are anxious for their kids' future? 

(49:46) If you had infinite resources, what would you pursue??

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